REAL WORLD AI

A thorough primer on the management of AI projects within a commercial context.

According to Rochwerger and Pang, artificial intelligence “represents a massive shift in technology, as revolutionary as electricity or the internet.” It promises to influence every corner of the business world, eventually requiring the ubiquitous adoption of an AI strategy. Their impressively synoptic introduction to the formulation of that strategy—it’s remarkable how much instructional territory they cover in just over 200 pages—is designed to provide a road map for the launching of a successful, ethically responsible approach that can be brought to scale. After a brief summary of AI as a whole—its power and limitations—they cover every major aspect of the creation of such a system, including the totality of the data pipeline. Rochwerger and Pang also explore the organizational challenges that demand adopting a high degree of team cross-functionality, harmonizing user experience, engineering, and business management. Further, they provide a sensitive treatment of the “ethical implications” of AI development, which goes far beyond just accuracy and involves the vigilant policing of the encoding of unintentional bias. The authors both write from deep and complimentary experience in the industry—Rochwerger as a product manager and Pang as a software developer. The organization of the book is pervasively practical—it’s brimming with helpful graphs, worksheets, and dozens of real-world examples—and is infused with a spirit of demystification. “This can all sound intimidating and overwhelming, but there’s no reason to be afraid of AI. It’s not magic, and it’s not even rocket science.” For all those involved in commercial applications of AI—on the business or technical side—this is a valuable handbook, as thoughtful as it is rigorous and practical, and it’s consistently written in an accessibly breezy style.

An edifying guidebook as comprehensive as it is detailed.